Today, China's national legislature passed a new law that, once enacted, will require citizens to visit their elderly parents "often," or go to court. This law is so, so ripe for 1980's style stand up jokes about mothers in law, or a very special episode of Married... With Chidren where someone gets bumped on the head and has a dream sequence about a dystopian nightmare future. My god.

Unfortunately for Chinese people whose parents are still alive, the law doesn't specify how "often" is "often" enough, according to the AP. The law comes on the heels of several reports that elderly Chinese people are being neglected or abused by their adult children. Because China doesn't really have an infrastructure in place to support an aging population that can't always care for itself, a visit to elderly parents in China isn't an issue of politeness; in many cases, it's a health issue for the aging.

Still, it's hard to avoid jokemaking about the new law. New York Magazine's Delia Paunescu put it best when she wrote, "China is your Jewish mother." At least China isn't moving to Florida.